Constantinople which made it a prey to the enemie as the Turk himselfe confessed when in the sacking of the City and rifling the houses he found such a masse of treasure as might have easily secured the place if the owners would have contributed but a small part of it to the maintenance of the Greeke Emperours warre against the Saracens And to come neerer my text it was not the Assyrians horse and chariots but Jeroboams golden calves together with their sorcerie witchcraft and other sinnes discovered unto them by the Prophets Amos and Hosea but unrepented of which destroyed Israel It is true which Arnobius affirmeth that we u Arnob. adver gent. l. 2. Procul absit tam scelerata persuasio ut rerum omnium salus Deus ulli rei fuerit miseriarum aut discriminum causa may by no meanes staine the decrees of God with any aspersion of bloudy cruelty or impute to him the miseries which befall us and yet God by his Prophet x Amos 3.6 Amos demandeth Shall there bee any evill in a City and the Lord hath not done it y Salv. de providentia l. 8. A Deo quippe punimur sed ipsi facimus ut puniamur cum autem punire nos ipsi facimus cui dubitum est quin ipsi nos nostris criminibus puniamus vim Deo faciamus iniquitatibus nostris ipsi in nos iram Dei armamus Salvianus excellently accordeth the seeming difference betweene these assertions God is the cause and wee are the cause of our woe God punisheth us and wee punish our selves God indeed punisheth us but wee cause and after a sort force him to doe it God inflicteth stripes but wee deserve them God striketh but wee provoke God powreth out the vials of his wrath but wee fill them up to the brimme by our over-flowing iniquities God maketh us good if wee are so but in a true sense wee make him just and which may seeme a great Paradoxe even by our injustice For if wee were not unjust in transgressing God could not bee just in punishing neither would hee desire any way to exalt his glory by the ruine of his creature For he delighteth in mercy Micah 7.18 and goodnesse is his nature Hee therefore never sendeth evill upon us before we have it in us hee never fils us a cup of z Psal 75.8 In the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he powreth out of the same red wine before the measure of our crimson sinne is full neither powreth hee out the dregges of his wrath upon any but such as Moab-like are settled upon their lees Zeph. 1.12 To strike saile then and land my discourse If our Israel if the Scepter of our Moses and the Rod of our Aarons flourish not as in former times if the people bee multiplied and yet our joy not increased if our corne and wine and oyle abound and yet wee are not enriched if the publike weale and every mans private by some secret veine inwardly bleeding hath beene in a kinde of consumption if our State hath received any wound or our Church any blow wee know where to lay the blame wee must say with mournefull Jerusalem a Lam. 1.8 The Lord is righteous but wee have rebelled against him God hath beene good to us but wee have rewarded evill unto our selves God hath not forgotten to bee gracious but wee to bee thankefull God would bee better to us if wee were better b Hor. car l. 1. od 3. Sed nos per nostrum non patimur scelus Iracunda Deum ponere fulmina Doth any desire to know how it commeth to passe that our gold is not so pure our silver so bright our brasse and iron so strong as heretofore that is the honour of our Nobility the riches of our Gentry the vertue and strength of our Commonalty is much empaired If I and all Preachers should bee silent our c Sen. de ira l. 2. Nec furtiva jam scelera sunt praeter oculos eunt in publicum missa nequitia est loud sinnes would proclaime it blasphemy would speake it prophanenesse sweare it pride and vanity paint and print it usury and bribery tell it luxury vent it gluttony and drunkennesse belch it out St. Peters argument were now of no force these men are not drunke seeing that it is but the third houre of the day for all houres of day yea and night too are alike to many of our drunkards d Tacit. annal l. 3. Praestat omittere prae valida adulta vitia quam id assequi ut palam fiat quibus vitiis impares simus Tiberius his advice in Tacitus may passe in point of policy for good viz. to dissemble and conceale overgrowne and head-strong evils rather than by taxing them to make it knowne what vices have so got the masterie of us that wee cannot stand against them but religion allowes of no such politicke silence God layeth this burthen upon his Prophets to burthen all sorts of men with all sorts of sin and to tell the greatest Potentates upon the earth that Potentespotenter that the mighty shall bee mightily tormented that the d Apoc. 19.18 fowles that flie in the midst of heaven shall eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and the flesh of mighty men The lowder our sinnes cry the higher we must lift up our voice like a trumpet to cry them downe even by thundering Gods judgements against them Pope e Plat. in vita Silv. Silvester when he was bid beware of Jerusalem for that whensoever hee should come thither hee should certainly dye he flattered himselfe that hee should put off his death long enough because hee was sure that he never meant to travell into Palestine little thinking that there was a Church at Rome of that name into which hee had no sooner set his foot but hee met with his evill Genius as Brutus did at Philippi and suddenly ended his wretched dayes Suffer I beseech you the word of admonition and exhortation It is not Rome in Italy which we need so much to feare though it bee the Seminary of Heretickes and Traytors but Rome in England Rome at home I meane the Popish faction among us which casteth continually fire-balls of dissention in the State and of Schisme in the Church to set all in a combustion f Cant. 2.15 O take away the foxes the little foxes that spoile the grapes of that far spreading vine which God hath planted among us by his word and watered by the bloud of so many noble Martyrs But I feare to lance any publicke sores any deeper let mee give but a pricke at our private wheales and then I will soone rid you and my selfe of paine Beloved wee are all querulous yet none almost either knoweth or looketh after the cause of their woe One complaineth that hee goeth backward in the world and sinketh in his estate
but onely by vertue of the promise of him who here saith To him that overcommeth I will give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will render or repay for it is not so in this warre as in others wherein the souldier who carrieth himselfe valiantly in warre and ventureth his life for his Prince and countrey may challenge his pay of desert because wee beare not our owne armour nor fight by our owne strength nor conquer by our owne valour nor have any colour for our service on earth to pretend to a crowne in heaven In which regard though wee may expect yet not challenge looke for yet not sue for desire yet not require as due the reward here promised b Luk. 12.32 Feare not little flock saith our Saviour for it is your fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome it is not his bargaine to sell you it Albeit the wages of sinne is death and there we may plead merit yet the Apostle teacheth us that eternall life is the gift of God Upon which words Saint c L. de grat lib. arbit c. 9. Cum posset dicere recte dicere stipendium justitiae vita aeterna maluit dicere gratia autem vita aeterna ut hinc intelligeremus non pro meritis nostris Deum nos ad aeternam vitam sed pro sua miseratione vocare unde dicitur in psalmo coronat te in miseratione Austines observation is very remarkeable Whereas the Apostle might have continued his Metaphor and said the wages of righteousnesse is eternall life because eternall life is the reward of righteousnesse as death is of sinne yet hee purposely put the word gift in stead of wages that wee might learne this most wholesome lesson that God hath predestinated and called us to eternall life not for our merits but of his mercy according to those words of the Psalmist He crowneth thee in compassion If there be any merit in S. Bernards judgement it is in denying all merit Sufficit ad meritum scire quod non sufficiant merita And verily had the Church of Rome all faith as her proselytes suppose that she hath all the good works yet her standing upon tearms with God pleading merit would mar all her merit and justly fasten upon her the ill name of Meretrix Babylonica the whore of Babylon For Meretrix saith Calepine à merendo sic dicta est hath her name from meriting When wee have done all that wee can d Luk. 17.10 Christ teacheth us to say wee are unprofitable servants we have done but that which was our duty to doe Nay have wee done so much as wee ought to doe Venerable Bede to checke our pride who are apt to take upon us for the least good work we doe telleth us no quod debuimus facere non fecimus we have not done what was our duty to do and if the best of us have not done what was our duty to doe wee merit nothing at our Masters hands but many stripes Yet the Church of Rome blusheth not to define it as a doctrine of faith in her conventicle at Trent that our e Concil Trid. sess 6. Can. 32. Si quis dixerit hominis justificati bona opera ita esse dona Dei ut non sint etiam bona ipsius justificati merita aut non vere merere augmentum gratiae vitam aeternam anathema sit good workes doe truely merit eternall life In which assertion as Tertullian spake of venemous flowers quot colores tot dolores so many colours so many dolours or mischiefes to man so wee may of the tearmes of this proposition quot verba tot haereses so many words so many heresies for First it is faith which intituleth us to heaven not workes by grace wee are saved f Ephes 2.8.9 through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Fides impetrat quod lex imperat Faith obtaineth that which the Law commandeth Secondly if workes had any share in our justification yet we could not merit by them because as they are ours they are not good as they are good they are not ours but Gods g Phil. 2.13 who worketh in us both the will and the deed it is God which worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure for h 2 Cor. 3.5 we are not sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God Whence St. i de lib. arbit c. 7. Si bona sunt Dei dona sunt si Dei dona sunt non coronat Deus tanquam merita tua sed tanquam dona sua Austin strongly inferreth against all plea of mans merit If thy works are good they are Gods gifts if they are evill God crowneth them not if therefore God crowneth thy workes he crownes them not as thy merits but as his owne gifts Thirdly the workes that may challenge a reward as due unto them in strict justice must be exactly and perfectly good but such are not ours k 1 Joh. 1.8 For if we say that we have no sinne or that our best works are not some way tainted we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us Woe saith St. l Confes l. 13. Vae hominum vitae laudabili si remota misericordia discutias eam Austine to the commendable life of men if thou examine it in rigour without mercy In which passionate straine he seemeth to take the note from m Psal 130.3 David If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquities O Lord who should stand and hee from n Job 9.2.3 Job How should man be just before God if he contend with him he cannot answer one of a thousand Fourthly were our workes free from all aspersion of impurity and suspition of hypocrisie yet could they not merit at Gods hands any thing to whom we owe all that we can or are Dei omne est quod possumus quod sumus The greatest Champion of merit Vasques the Jesuit here yeelds the bucklers because we can give nothing to God which he may not exact of us by the right of his dominion we cannot merit any thing at his hand by way of justice For o Vasques in Thom. disput Non meremur in via justitiae quia pro eo quod alteri redditranquam debitum nihil accipere quis debet ideo servi inâ—tiles dici possumus quod nihil quasi sponte Deo demus sed demus ea quae in re dominii ex praecepto exigere possit no man can demand any thing as his due for meerly discharging his debt no not so much as thankes Luke 17.9 Doth hee thanke that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I trow not Fiftly might our workes taken at the best merit something at Gods hands yet not eternall life For there is no proportion betweene our finite workes and such
terris the Earth trembled the Stones clave with indignation the vaile of the Temple rent it selfe the Heaven mourned in sables the Sunne that he might not behold such outrage done upon so sacred a person drew in his beams He who suffereth all this quatcheth not stirreth not nor discovereth his divine Majesty no not when death approached When all insensible creatures seemed to be sensible of the injury offered their Maker he who feeleth all seemeth to be insensible For hee maketh no resistance at all and though he were omnipotent yet his patience overcame his omnipotency and even to this day restraineth his justice from taking full revenge of them who were the authours of his death and of those who since crucifie againe the Lord of life and trample under their feet the bloud of the Covenant as a prophane thing Whose thoughts are not swallowed up in admiration at this that he who is adored in heaven is not yet revenged upon the earth You see meeknesse in his passions behold now this vertue expressed to the life in his life and actions Actions I say whether naturall or miraculous so indeed they are usually distinguished albeit Christs miraculous actions were naturall in him proceeding from his divine nature and most of his naturall actions as they are called proceeding from his humane nature were in him wonderfull and miraculous For instance to weep is a most naturall action but to weep in the midst of his triumph and that for their ruine who were the cause of all his woe to shed teares for them who thirsted after his bloud was after a sort miraculous Who ever did the like Indeed we reade that Marcellus wept over Syracuse and Scipio over Carthage and Titus over Jerusalem as our Saviour did but the cause was far different They shed teares for them whose bloud they were to shed but our Saviour for them who were ready to shed his Luke 19.41 His bowels earned for them who thought it long till they had pierced his heart with a launce When the high Priest commanded Paul to be smote on the face hee rebuked him saying The Lord shall smite thee thou painted wall Acts 23 3. but when the Lord himselfe was smitten by the high Priests servant he falls not foule upon him but returnes this milde answer If I have done evill John 18.23 beare witnesse of the evill but if I have done well why strikest thou me The servant thinketh much to endure that from the Master which the Master endures from the servant The Apostles on whom the Spirit descended in the likenesse of fiery tongues were often hot and inflamed with wrath against the enemies of God and brought downe fearfull judgements upon them but our Saviour on whom the Spirit descended in the likenesse of a Dove never hurt any by word or deed 2 Kin. 5.27 Matth. 8.2 Luke 4.27 17.12 Acts 13.11 Acts 5.5.10 Eliah inflicted leprosie upon Gehazi by miracle Christ by miracle cleansed divers lepers Saint Paul tooke away sight from Elymas Christ by miracle restored sight to many Saint Peter miraculously with a word strucke Ananias and Sapphira down dead Christ by miracle raised many from death insomuch that his very enemies gave this testimony of him Mark 7 37. Hee hath done all well giving to the lame feet to the maimed strength to the dumbe speech to the deafe eares to the blind sight to the sicke health to the dead life to the living everlasting joy and comfort I have proposed unto you a notable example shall I need to put to spurres of art to pricke on your desires to follow it the example is our Saviour and the vertue exemplified in him meeknesse How excellent must the picture be which is set in so rich a frame such a vertue were to be imitated in any person such a person to be imitated in any vertue how much more such a vertue in such a person It is hard to say whether ought to bee the stronger motive unto us to follow meeknesse either because it is the prince of vertues or the vertue of our Prince whose stile is Princeps pacis Where the prince is the Prince of peace and the kingdome the Kingdome of grace and the law the Law of love they must certainly be of a milde and loving disposition that are capable of preferment in it If the Spirit be an oyntment as S. a 1. John 2.20 But you have an oyntment from the Holy One and you know all things John calleth it it must needs supple If grace bee a dew it cannot but moisten and soften the heart and make it like Gedeons fleece Judges 6.37 which was full of moisture when all the ground about it was dry What can be said more in the commendation of any vertue than meeknesse and of it than this that God commandeth it in his Word Christ patterneth it in his life and death the holy Spirit produceth it in our hearts our very nature enclineth us to it and our condition requireth it of us No vertue so generally commended as meeknesse Follow after righteousnesse 1 Tim. 6.11 godlinesse faith love patience meeknesse bee no brawler Tit. 3.2 but gentle shewing all meeknesse to all men Walke worthy of the vocation whereunto you are called with all lowlinesse and meeknesse with long-suffering forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace James 3.17 18. The wisedome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits and the fruit of righteousnesse is sowne in peace of them that make peace No fruit of the spirit so sweet and pleasant as this as on the contrary no fruit of the flesh so tart and bitter as jealousie and wrath which God curseth by the mouth of b Genes 40.7 Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell Jacob but blesseth meeknesse by the mouth of our Saviour Matth. 5.5 Blessed are the meeke for they shall inherit the earth The earth was cursed before it brought forth thornes and thistles and briars which are good for nothing but to bee burned Wherefore let us hearken to the counsell of St. c Cypr. de zelo bâ—â—ore Evellamus spinas de cordibus ut dâ—â—minicum semen nos fertili fruge locupletet Cyprian Let us weed out of our soules envie wrath and jealousie and other stinging and pricking passions And of the Apostle Let no root of d Heb. 12.15 Looking diligently lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble you bitternesse remaine in us that we may receive with meeknesse the engraffed Word which is able to save our soules James 1.21 Our carnall lusts are like so many serpents and of all wrath is the most fiery which will set all in a combustion if it bee not either quenched by the teares of repentance or slacked by the infusion of divine
Pauls precept the whole Christian Church offered up their united devotions for the Roman Emperour The matter and forme of their prayer is set downe by d Tertul. in apol Manibus expansis quia innocuis capite nudo quia non erubescimus precantes semper sumus pro omnibus Imperatoribus vitam illis prolixam imperium securum domum tutam exercitus fortes Senatum fidelem populum probum orbem quietum Tertullian With hands spread abroad because innocent and bare head because not blushing we are alwayes praying for all Emperours that God would grant unto them a long life a happie reigne a safe house victorious armies a faithfull councell a loyall people and a peaceable world And if according to Saint e Cypr. de laps Cyprians passionate admonition we would joyne publickly our prayers to their prayers and our teares to their teares and our sighes to their sighes who groane under the heavie yoake of heathenish or antichristian tyranny who knoweth whether God would not change the face of Christendome and not onely wipe bloud from the bodie but also all teares from the eyes of his most disconsolate Spouse Thus much of the notes in space the notes in rule are specially In thy strength 1. That the onely securitie of Princes and States is in the strength of the Almighty The King shall rejoyce in thy salvation 2. That God holdeth a speciall hand over Soveraigne Princes 3. That Princes mightily defended and safely preserved by the arme of God must thankfully acknowledge this singular favour and deliver their deliverances to after ages that the children yet unborne may praise the Lord as we doe this day 1. That Princes and states have no safe repose but under the shadow of the Almighty I need not alledge any one Psalme for proofe it is the burthen almost of every song Not a string in Davids harp but soundeth out this tune briefly f Psal 2.12 happy are they that put their trust in him g Psal 4.8 Thou Lord onely makest me to dwell in safety h Psal 20.7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses but wee will remember the Name of the Lord our God i Psal 21.7 The King trusteth in the Lord and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved k Psal 44.6.8 I will not trust in my bow neither shall my sword save me In God wee boast all the day long and praise thy Name for ever Selah Upon this note how excellent doth he divide l Psal 18.2 The Lord is my rocke and my fortresse and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler the horne of my salvation and my high tower m Xen. Cyr. p. ed. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is not the golden Scepter wee see Princes leane upon that supporteth them it is the loyalty of their loving subjects which beareth them up withdraw this golden Scepter from them they cannot stand n Plin. in panegyr Satellitium principis ipsius innocentia optimum munimentum munimento non egere The best guard of a Prince saith Plinie is his owne innocencie the best defence and munition to need none for armes are provoked by armes neither can a Prince be guarded from his owne guard but by his buckler of faith and the right hand of the Almighty Dextra mihi deus est My right hand is my god saith he in the Poet falsely and blasphemously but David truely and most religiously The Lord is the strength of my right hand o Psal 127.1 Except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it except the Lord keepe the City the watchman waketh but in vaine Except the Lord protect the royall person of a Prince the States-man counselleth the Captaine fighteth the Guard waiteth but in vaine no magazine of treasure no arsenall of armour no fleet by Sea no forces by land no alliance with neighbour Princes no allegeance of subjects can secure their persons for a moment Those in the bath who forsake their guides and will venter to goe of themselves are often drowned and travellers who refuse or distrust their convoy when they passe through theevish places dismissing them or stealing away from them for the most part by escaping seeming danger fall into certaine danger so it fareth with them who rely not upon the protection of the Almighty but seeke other helpe aid and support from the arme of flesh or the braine of worldly Politicians p Jer. 17.5 Cursed is hee who maketh flesh his arme and trusteth not in the Lord his God To the truth of which verdict the greatest Potentates in the world have subscribed with their owne bloud Nebuchadnezzar trusted in his Citie Babel and it became his Babel that is his confusion Xerxes trusted in his multitude of men his multitude encumbred him Darius in his wealth his wealth sold him Eumenes in the valour of his regiment called the Silver-shields his Silver-shields bound him and delivered him to Antigonus Roboam in his young Counsellers his young Counsellers lost him the ten Tribes Caesar in his old Senatours the Senatours conspired against him Domitian in his guard his guard betrayed him Adrian in his Physicians his Physicians cast him away Multitudo medicorum perdidit Adrianum Imperat orem These all leaned upon Egyptian reeds which not onely brake under them and so deceived their trust but also ran in to their hands and sides and wounded them By whom let us all learne to distrust all meanes of trust and confidence save in the continuance of Gods favour and the support of his power and Grace St. p Prosp sent excerpt ex Aug. Qui in se stat non stat qui se sibi sufficere confidit ab eo qui verè sufficit defici◠Prosper out of St. Austine happily concludeth this point Whosoever standeth upon himselfe standeth not hee who is confident in his owne support by this his arrogancie loseth the support of true confidence opinion of selfe-sufficiencie inferreth a deficiencie from him in q 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing of our selves but our sufficiencie is of God whom is all our sufficiencie I have shewed you the pictures of those who have suffered shipwracke by making worldly policie their Pilot and committing their bodie and goods to those brittle barkes which I before mentioned behold now the cheerefull faces of those who in a deluge of troubles have yet arrived to the faire havens being steered by the compasse of Gods Word and carried safe in the arke of divine protection How many mutinies against Moses how many stratagems against Joshuah how many attempts against David what preparations against Hezekiah what combinations against Jehosaphat what armies against Constantine what fulminations from Rome what Armadoes from Spaine what poysons what dags and daggers from Traitours at home against Queene Elizabeth Yet all these were compassed
the bloud of your Redeemer from all spots of impurity will yee againe pollute and soile them It is folly eagerly to pursue that which will bring you no profit at all and greater to follow afresh those things whereof ye were not only ashamed in the enjoying them but also are now confounded at the very mention of them yet this is not the worst shame is but the beginning of your woe For the end is death yea death without end Will yee then forsake the waies of Gods Commandements leading to endlesse felicity and weary your selves in the by-pathes of wickednesse in the pursuit of worldly vanities without hope of gaine with certaine losse of your good name nay of your life will yee sell heaven for the mucke of the earth set yee so much by the transitory pleasures of sinne mixed with much anguish and bitternesse attended on with shame that for them yee will be content to be deprived of celestiall joyes the society of Archangels and Angels and the fruition of God himselfe for ever nay to be cast into the darke and hideous dungeon of hell to frie in eternall flames to be companions of ghastly fiends and damned ghosts howling and shreeking without ceasing complaining without hope lamenting without end living yet without life dying yet without death because living in the torments of everlasting death Divis explicat verb. Having taken a generall survey of the whole let us come to a more particular handling of the parts which are three forcible arguments to deterre all men from all vicious and sinfull courses 1. The first ab inutili What fruit had yee 2. The second ab infami Whereof yee are now ashamed 3. The third à pernicioso or mortifero The end of these things is death 1. Fruit. What fruit This word fruit is fruitfull in significations it is taken 1 Properly for the last issue of trees and so it is opposed to leaves or blossomes for nature adorneth trees with three sorts of hangings as it were the first leaves the second blossomes the third fruits in this sense the word is taken in the first of Genesis and in the parable of the figge-tree cursed by our Saviour because hee found no fruit thereon 2 Improperly either for inward habits which are the fruits either of the spirit whereof the Apostle speaketh The g Gal. 5.22 fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance or of the flesh reckoned up by the same h Ver. 19 20. Apostle or for outward workes which are the fruits of the former habits whereof we reade Being i Phil. 1.11 filled with the fruits of righteousnesse and in the Epistle of S. k Jam. 3.15 James Full of mercy and good fruits Or for the reward of these works either inward as peace joy and contentment whereof those words of S. l Ver. 18. James are to be meant The fruit of righteousnes is sowne in peace of them that make peace and those of S. Paul No m Heb. 12.11 affliction for the time is joyous but grievous but in the end it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse to those that are exercised thereby Or lastly for outward blessings wherewith God even in this life recompenseth those who are fruitfull in good workes as the Prophet Esay and David assure them Surely it shall be n Esay 3.10 Psal 58.11 well with the just for they shall eate the fruits of their workes Utique est fructus justo Verily there is fruit for the righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth 2. Had. Had. It is written of the Lynx that he never looketh backe but Homer contrarily describeth a wise man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking both forward and backward forward to things to come and backward to things past for by remembring what is past and fore-casting things future he ordereth things present and in speciall what advantage a Christian maketh of the memory of his former sinnes and the sad farewell they have left in the conscience I shall speake more largely hereafter for the present in this cursory interpretation of the words it shall suffice to observe from the pretertense habuistis had ye not habetis have ye that sin like the trees of Sodome if it beare any fruit at all yet that it abideth not but assoone as it is touched falls to ashes Musonius the Philosopher out of his owne experience teacheth us and that truely that if we doe any good thing with paine the paine is soone over but the pleasure remaineth but on the contrarie if we doe any evill thing with pleasure the pleasure is soone over but the paine remaineth In those things whereof yee are now ashamed 3. Those things As after the wound is healed there remaines a scar in the flesh so after sinne is healed in the conscience there remaines as it were a scarre of infamie in our good name and of shame also in the inward man The act of sinne is transcunt yet shame the effect or rather proper passion of it is permanent sinne is more ancient than shame but shame out liveth sinne It is as impossible that fire should be without scorching heat or a blow without paine or a feaver without shaking as sinne especially heinous and grievous without a trembling in the minde and shame and confusion in the soule For as o In Saturnal Macrobius well observeth when the soule hath defiled her selfe with the turpitude of sinne pudore suffunditur sanguinem obtendit pro velamento she is ashamed of her selfe and sends forth bloud into the outward parts and spreadeth â—t like a vaile before her just as the Sepia or Cuttle fish when she is afraid to be taken p Plin. nat hist l. 9. c. 29. Sepiae ubi sensere se apprehendi offuso atramento quod illis pro sanguine est absconduntur sends from her bloud like inke whereby she so obscureth the water that the angler cannot see her If it be objected that some men as they are past grace so past shame also and some foreheads of that metall that will receive no tincture of modestie such as Zeno was in q L. 16. Si clam scelera perpetrasser obscurum minus gloriosum putabat sin publicitùs apertè in conspectu omnium absque pudore flegitiosus esset id dâ—mùm Principe Imperatore dignum putabat Nicephorus his story who held it a disparagement to himselfe to commit wickednesse in secret and cover his filthinesse with the darke shadow of the night for that it became not soveraigne majestie to feare any thing he thought he could not shew himselfe a Prince unlesse without feare or shame he committed outrages in the face of the sunne Such were those Jewes whom the Prophet Jeremie brands in the forehead with the marke of a Strumpet that cannot blush r Jer 8.12 Were they ashamed when they committed abominations nay Å¿ Jer.